College Admissions Essay: Planning For Success

Former baseball player Tommy Lasorda once said, “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” The journey of our life is full of winding paths and concrete obstacles whose sole goal is to slow us down, and to attempt to block us from reaching our ultimate goal in life, whatever that may be. These barriers are there for several different reasons, whether it be mental or physical. Sometimes these obstacles are motivated by fear, other times they exist simply because we have to make a decision, and that decision can be life changing. But through our determination, and through our perseverance, we can achieve what these barriers told us was impossible, and can pursue the path in our life that leads us to our ultimate self. Throughout my life, I have had thousands of barriers stand in my path. And the only way I was able to defeat them was through conquering my fears, and breaking my limits in order to achieve excellence.

     It seems in the society we live in today, having a college degree is a necessity. Years ago it was the norm for people to just go right into a full time job after high school, if they even finished high school; they did this to support their families. In today’s society a person has a difficult time getting a decent job without a college degree. During an adults working life, bachelor degree graduates will earn about $2.1 million and a high school graduate can expect to earn an average of $1.2 million (Day and Newburger, 2002). This is quite a difference and it puts a college education in

Goals, goals, goals they're what people think about and how they are going to achieve them in the future. My three goal in life are to get in the college of my choice, go skydiving and to get a well paying job. These three goals are important to me because they are what I am likely to achieve within the next ten years. As I grow and blossom into someone big, someone bigger than who I am today I don’t mean just physically but bigger intellectually, and more capable. These goals show me that if I want to achieve them, then I have to work hard to accomplish them.

Many people, since I was little, pressured me into going to college. My parents didn't mind what I decided, all that mattered is what makes me happy. They would support me no matter what my heart decided to do. Over the years family members tried to persuade me into believing that without a college degree you'll never become successful. To them, college had to be a part of my future which I think is the main reason I decided that college would be for me. Ever since I was told that I started to disagree and pushed myself to realize that I wanted to prove them wrong. I can do anything I want and accomplish any goals I have as long as I set my mind to it. College isn't the only way to become successful, working can get you places you never thought possible.

The pursuit of attending college has been a personal desire and goal for as long as I can remember. While maintaining a rigorous academic course load, I also had a passion for excelling in my music endeavors. My superior GPA and yearly testing scores broadened my career choices but made it difficult to discern whether I wanted to pursue something in the field of medicine, education, or music. The academics, experiences, and activities that I have been involved with throughout my life, definitely have shaped and encouraged me to think deeper about what it is that I would truly love to excel in on the college level and pursue as a life-long career.

I have loved sports my whole life, even at a very young age. I would watch it with my dad, and he would take me to sports games. I loved to play basketball in the backyard when I was little. I have always loved cheering for my favorite sports team. I love watching the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Two years ago my dad surprised me with Vikings tickets. I was so happy to get to go to a game. Sports has always been a big part of my life. Two years ago, I got a new view of sports when I started umpiring.

I was born on September the 7th of 1994 in the San Francisco Bay area, not very far from Silicon Valley. The year I was born President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade agreement with Mexico and Canada which helped to stimulate economic growth about twenty years ago. Living in California made my Dad the open-minded liberal that he is today, and because of his love for discussing politics I was raised listening to him have friendly debates with my very republican grandpa over every economic issue from climate change to healthcare. For about a year and a half after I was born my parents, older brother Daniel, golden retriever sandy, and I all lived in a classic colonial style home just south of Santa Clara Valley. My father was the breadwinner in our family working as an engineer for Portola Packaging. A job he was offered not long after graduation from a small private engineering school in upstate New York called Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. My mother also worked full time but as a loan underwriter. After being offered a great relocation package by Portola to the east coast my parents quickly decided to pack up our house and move to Pittsburg Pennsylvania. In addition to being closer to our extended families they also believed that raising a family in Pennsylvania was far

My past, present, and future. This is the journey of my life. Where I’ve been, where I’m at, and where I’m going. My journey began on July 28, 2000, at St. Margret’s South Hospital in Dyer, Indiana. Lance Collins who is a paramedic, and Christine Collins who is a registered nurse, became the proud parents of the 6lb. 9oz. 21 inch long baby boy, who they named Liam Hunter Collins. On November 30, 2002, I became a big brother when my sister Taylor Collins was born. I have been a lifelong resident of Northwest Indiana and I’ve had some pretty amazing adventures and accomplishments so far. I became a proud pet owner when my bichon frise Max, came to live with us on April 5th, 2006. On June 30, 2006 my dad took me to my very first Taekwondo lesson. I quickly fell in love with martial arts, I worked really hard, dedicated myself, and I received the rank of 1st degree black belt when I was only eight years old. I have been playing

If someone asked me where I am going to be in ten years, this would be my answer. I will have a great, high-paying job, and beautiful wife and family, and a nice sports car parked in front of my lovely house. When I look into the future, I see myself being successful and happy. Even though I always pictured myself this way, I never worried too much about how I would get there. I feel the Suffolk University can lay the groundwork for making these dreams into reality.

This forced me analyze my life thus far, to recognize my fears and what I hold dear. It’s only been sixteen (one month till seventeen) years in this carcass, but I already feel like an entire life has flown by. It was like a prerequisite of actually watching my life flash before my eyes. This project was nice to sit back and look at what a social mess I am (one of my most favorite pastimes). But also, only being sixteen, I don’t hold what many would believe to be true values, dreams, fears, and identity. Nevertheless, this is what I have so far.

Have you ever been so overwhelmed with life that you feel like you're on your own, and have no one to turn to? Or have you ever been caught in a situation where you knew you were doing wrong, however you still continued to do it anyways? Well I was caught up in both of these situations. I found myself contemplating where to go, and what to do.

As a private pilot, I view the world from an ever changing perspective. From cruising at five thousand feet looking down at the twinkling lights of Jones AT&T Stadium, to clipping the grass in the canyons east of Slaton while chasing after the glisten of sunshine on the stream, I appreciate every moment I have in the clouds. In 8th grade my parents purchased a discovery flight for me out of Georgetown Municipal Airport, northeast of Austin, Texas. As soon as the aircraft lifted off the ground my instructor nonchalantly handed me the controls. The pilot and I executed countless loops, rolls, and zero gravity maneuvers. Looking back, I realize just how irresponsible and unsafe this particular pilot was, considering that the instructor was piloting the non-aerobatic Cessna 172. However, without this experience I

Growing up as an only child has taught me how to have fun with the smallest things that you have. I have always found myself turning nothing into something, whether it was using one cardboard box as a house, a car, and an airplane, my imagination took over and made the best of everything. As result of the personality test I am considered to be an adventurer, someone who lives by their heart, who is spontaneous, and who is shockingly introverted.

In my childhood, From the television screen, those scenes of dynamic high school lives and dazzling extracurricular activities fascinated me, I thought The United States must be the heavenly wonderland compare to the world I come from, a nation where mechanization and examination-oriented education are prevailed; a cold dead place where people halted steps once their basic livings were guaranteed yet challenging development of individual identities was lost behind.

I have always been the type of person that goes beyond what is expected. I prefer to go beyond the expectations and to be seen as someone who perseveres for what I plan to accomplish. My goal is not be seen as an ostentatious person, but as some one who has been taught to work hard towards my goals. People may refer to me as a quiet person, but I am actually gregarious once you get to know me, it's just that I prefer the company of calm and nice people. This school year I am a Junior, although my plans for the 2016-2017 school year are to graduate early. I know that it's not easy to get the necessary credits to graduate from one day to another. For that reason, last year I talked with my school's registrar about my plans on how I could possibly